Everyone heard Janis Joplin's version - and loved it. But...

[fpb]

...how about the Man in Black at the height of his power? There is a terrible simplicity to everything he does, and I for one feel that he means every word.

Comments

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

Terrible or awful -- in the older sense of the words, specifically -- is a good way to describe that aspect of Cash which I like best; my favorite song of his is "When the Man Comes Around." I have heard other people singing it, but in anyone else's hands it seems to fall flat and lose its apocalyptic character.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It is pure magic. I don't know what he does, but he opens his mouth and you cannot stop listening. There is no jazzing up or bluesing up, just every word coming out with its weight and its meaning - and I quite literally got goosebumps listening.

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

Aahh, thank you for that!

Was there ever a time when he wasn't at the height of his power?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I doubt it. The story goes that when he and Dylan first met, at some folk festival in the early sixties, Dylan walked all around him and said, "Wow!" You could not believe it of anyone else, but you can of him. He has the presence of a monument. The great thing about YouTube is that you can listen to a sequel of different interpretations of a song, and I heard Kris Kristofferson and Judy Collins (curiously underwhelming), Dolly Parton (excellent though with one or two "Lord!" too many) and Jerry Lee Lewis (incredibly exciting), beside being already familiar with Janis, but this one still stood out.